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The why is a tough question. Why is Tiger struggling? Is he still battling back from the knee surgeries? Could it be that living a better lifestyle is making it harder to focus on golf, or perhaps it’s just emotionally exhausting? Perhaps he just doesn’t have the time to commit to practice like he once did. Maybe having affairs with multiple women boosted his confidence to such a high level it helped on the golf course – and now that’s gone. Of course he could just be getting older and everyone else is catching up. Why is a tough one to answer. What the problem is however is not.

Yes, a swing change is a long process – especially at the absolute highest level. But that’s not the problem. Tiger has always hit it a long and that was an advantage, but he still hits it long. No, he’s not consistently hitting like Gary Woodland but Tiger’s length is not the problem. And he’s never driven the ball particularly straight – he’s just one of the most skilled and imaginative players when it comes to getting out of trouble. Sure, there were tournaments when he hit fairways with great consistency and didn’t have to spend all his time scrambling – but that just meant he won by 15 strokes instead of 5. The swing isn’t his problem.

Tiger’s problem right now is simple. He can’t putt. Until a few years ago when everything changed for Tiger he simply never missed putts. Okay, the word never is maybe not technically accurate but it’s darn close. He didn’t miss putts. He saved par almost every time and if he needed a putt, he made it – almost no matter where it was from. It was an amazing stretch of amazing putting. Now, for whatever reasons – remember the why is hard to figure – he putts like a human. He misses putts. A lot of them. In the first 3 days of the 2011 Masters he’s missed more putts that 5 years ago he’d make. When (and sadly, maybe it’s more accurate to say if) Tiger gets his putting stroke back we’ll again see Tiger winning, and winning a lot.

UPDATE (after Tiger’s 4th round at the 2011 Masters): I rest my case.
Tiger 5 years ago would have NOT missed the par putt at 12 and would never have missed the Eagle putt at 15. Could have been, should have been in the clubhouse at at least -12.

We’ve uncovered additional facts about Jay Cutler’s injury in the NFC Title game vs Green Bay. This completely explains why he was on the sideline for most of the 2nd half in the biggest game of his life.

It seems falling to the ground into the fetal position multiple times as the defense approached eventually caught up with Cutler.  Reports now indicate that Cutler injured his Vagina and was unable to return the game.

We’ve had several people ask if we have a pick for the Nebraska at K-State game tonight.  We don’t have an official pick but we have some strong thoughts we shared with e-mailers, so we’ll share it with everybody.

If this were a regular Saturday afternoon on a neutral field we’d like Nebraska by 30 points.  K-State is less talented at several spots on the field and most importantly they are a very one-dimensional team on offense.  Stop the run, stop K-State.

BUT….
This is not a Saturday afternoon on a neutral field.  This is the last conference game (possibly the last game ever) between rivals K-State and Nebraska.  This is Thursday Night national prime time on ESPN.  This is Bill Snyder.  This is Bill Snyder with an extra 1/2 week to prepare.

So ALL the intangibles favor the double digit underdog.

K-State runs the ball very well, that is one area of weakness for Nebraska so the Wildcats may be able to take advantage.  But if the Huskers sell out to stop the run there’s little change K-State can be successful passing the ball on a consistent basis.  And Bill Snyder has several tricks up his sleeves – special teams magic, trick plays….who knows…..

So if we had to pick it, we’d go Nebraska to cover.  But we aren’t posting this pick officially and I’m not betting on it myself.

~ Scott

I can use my cell phone from anywhere in the world and access the desktop of my home PC and use it just like I were sitting at my desk with a FREE app but the best the NFL can do after all these years is a red flag for a challenge.  That’s embarassing.

A lot can and will happen during the course of an NFL football season but here’s how ScottsPicks.com sees the season unfolding.

Biggest disappointment of the season: NY Jets
Expectations for this team are simply too high. They barely made the playoffs last year then, yes, did go on a “magical” run – mainly because nobody took them seriously and they played over their heads. They aren’t the most talented team in the league and it’s very unlikely they’ll be able to play all out, 100% sell out football on every play of every game this season. They will miss the playoffs.

Honorable mention to the Vikings – Favre is very unlikely to repeat his amazing year of last season and with Chester Taylor gone will AP have the stamina to be great all season long when he’s picking up blitzes on 3rd down all season?

Biggest positive surprise of the season: San Francisco 49ers
Another year of experience for Alex Smith, an arsenal of weapons around him and a solid defense in a weak division makes the 49ers a likely playoff contender.

Honorable mention to  the Oakland Raiders – Jason Campbell is no star QB but he’s a big upgrade at the position and Oakland has some RBs to throw out there.

So who wins it all you ask?
Let’s start in the divisions:

AFC East Champion: New England Patriots – Remember them?  They still have Tom Brady last time we checked.
AFC North Champion: Baltimore Ravens – A very impressive offense to go with that D – we like that!
AFC West Champion: San Diego Chargers  - Chargers by default here. Raiders will challenge so could KC or Denver.
AFC South Champion: Indianapolis Colts – A bit by default again, Titans have a change to make some noise as does Houston if they ever play D.

AFC Wildcards
Tennessee Titans – Not entirely sold on Vince Young as a solution but they have many weapons.
The 2nd WC is wide open – we’ll lean to Cincinnati beating out the Jets, Bills, Steelers and Texans in a weird tie-breaker.

And in the NFC……

NFC East Champion: Dallas Cowboys – They simply have too much talent not to win the slightly down division.  Although watch out for Washington!

NFC North Champion: Green Bay Packers – They won’t likely lose at home so only 4-4 on the road gives them 12 wins and the division.

NFC West Champion: San Francisco 49ers – Arizona will fall hard this year, St Louis a few years away and although Seattle might make some noise the Niners have the most balance in the division.

NFC South Champion: New Orleans Saints – Don’t want to say by default here because they Saints are an excellent team but only Atlanta has the potential to challenge and we aren’t sold on the Falcons.

NFC Wildcards
This could be jumbled mess as we see a lot more bad teams in the NFC than AFC which means about 6 teams could be challenging for 2 spots here…..Eagles, Giants, Redskins, Vikings, Falcons, Panthers.
We’ll look for Minnesota and Philadelphia to emerge.

The Championship Games

Green Bay over New Orleans (in Green Bay) – The in Green Bay factor will be significant here.

Baltimore over New England – The Ravens are the most balanced team in the AFC and it will show in a hard fought win to go the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl Champ

Green Bay Packers over Baltimore Ravens – Defense wins championships, right?  Yes but what many will expect to be a low scoring will not be but ultimately Aaron Rodgers as Super Bowl MVP gets it done.

NFL Week 1 Picks coming soon!  And stay with ScottsPicks.com all season for football picks!